‘In It Together’ launched with a TV spot during the Golden Globes

Viewers of the Golden Globes Sunday night may have noticed a commercial from a company that isn’t typically an advertiser: LinkedIn.

And if viewers paid close attention to the spot, they may have also noticed that the actual LinkedIn user who was featured in the ad didn’t fit the “white collar businesspeople” stereotype of the professional network’s typical user.

The spot marked the launch of “In It Together,” LinkedIn’s first true integrated marketing effort, which also encompasses digital display, paid social media, online video, outdoor/out-of-home (including on LinkedIn’s offices across the U.S.), radio, podcasts, search-engine marketing and other partnerships.

LinkedIn is no stranger to using major awards shows as launching pads for its campaigns. Its first TV ad debuted during the Academy Awards in February 2016.

The two campaigns are nothing alike, however.

LinkedIn vice president of brand marketing and corporate communications Melissa Selcher said the professional network’s TV ad debut during the 2016 Oscars was a single nationwide spot. “In It Together,” meanwhile, was crafted with an entirely different approach in mind.

The new campaign is a 12-week initiative targeted solely at four core markets— Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco—and Selcher said the company will compare LinkedIn activity in those markets with control markets that are not included in the campaign to help determine its success.

She added that LinkedIn saw the Golden Globes as a natural fit for the launch of In It Together, as both the awards show and the marketing initiative “celebrate all the different versions of success.”

LinkedIn said it opted to use “raw, black-and-white, documentary-style film” in the campaign in order to chronicle featured members’ success stories “in their own unique environments.”

LinkedIn executive creative director Kevin Frank said the network faces a stereotype of being a destination for businesspeople, and “people with more nontraditional backgrounds came forward” during the creation of the campaign.

Indeed, LinkedIn members featured during “In It Together” include those that fit the stereotype, such as an information-technology professional, but the campaign also includes users involved in sales, nonprofits, ranching, education, culinary, the arts (dancing and animation, for example) and even a mixed-martial-arts fighter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

“In It Together” was developed by LinkedIn Creative Studio and BMB, but employees of the professional network were heavily involved, as well.

Selcher said the initiative was introduced to all of LinkedIn’s 11,000 or so employees in November, and they were involved in key elements such as nominating members to be featured. In addition, the company has an internal microsite where employees can explain why they’re “in it,” and later this month, one entry will be selected with that employee being featured in an ad.

Selcher wrote in a blog post introducing the campaign: “A few months ago, we started asking ourselves and our members, ‘What are you in it for?’ ‘It’ is work and everything associated with work, and the answers are as unique as the more than 500 million members on LinkedIn. For some, the answer is a sense of purpose; for others, a deep passion. For some, it is a way to give back; for others, a much more pragmatic desire to provide. Regardless of the motivation or reason, no one wants to go it alone. Whatever you’re in it for, you want to know there is a community of people to help, support, inspire and push you.”

Not only are employees involved in the campaign, but LinkedIn’s physical offices across the country are participating, as well.

The company’s buildings will feature “massive renderings” of images of members involved in the campaign, such as the example pictured below, from the professional network’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif.